CHAPTER FIFTEEN
EMPTINESS IS THE ONLY way to describe how Athena felt about the situation they gotten themselves into. The mothers of the group were clinging to their children and people were either crying or raging at the door in attempt to escape. Athena however, wasn't doing either, instead she found herself nursing the bottle of whiskey and staring into the distance. She didn't feel upset or angry, she just felt defeated.
If they weren't going to get out, Athena decided to return to her old friend (a bottle of alcohol) for comfort. She may as well savour it before she couldn't feel anything at all. Of course she was furious, there was no doubt in her mind about that. But if Athena were to get herself all fired up about something that they couldn't change, it would just be pointless. Once Athena got that fire on her belly there was no stopping her. She didn't want herself to reach that point again. So she sat quietly in the corner, listening to the men attempt to demolish the door with whatever they could find.
"You should have left well enough alone. It would have been so much easier." Jenner articulated.
"Easier for who?"
"All of you. You know what's out there. A short, brutal life and an agonising death." Jenner turned his attention to Andrea "Your-your sister. You know what this does. You've seen it. Is that really what you want for your wife and son?"
"I dont want this." Rick asserted, referring to their current situation.
Shane breathed heavily as his arms rested on the desk "Can't make a dent."
"Those doors are designed to withstand a rocket launcher."
"Well, your head ain't!" With the axe that was being used on the door, Daryl raged towards Jenner and strived to swing the axe on him.
Immediately everyone jumped into action, pulling and blocking Daryl from getting to Jenner. As much as everyone wanted to take a swing at Jenner, they knew that if he was dead, then there really was no way of getting out.
"You do want this!" Jenner said standing up "Last night, you said you knew it was just a matter of time before everybody you loved was dead."
These words caused Athena to pause, preventing the bottle from touching her lips once more. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Her head turned to look at Rick who guiltily glanced between everyones judging eyes.
"What, you really said that after all your big talk?" Shane asked.
"I had to keep hope alive, didn't I?"
"There is no hope, there never was." Jenner interjected, once again preaching for the greater good.
Athena had, had enough of hearing the constant arguing and pointless attempts to get the door open. The only way they were getting out was by the help of Jenner and he sure as hell wasn't budging on his decision. "Can you all just shut up for one second! Everything is gone and there is no way of us getting out. So just accept it." Athena had risen to her feet, all eyes now on her before she took off to a secluded part of the lab.
She heard the talk increase as she walked off to the other side of the room, she went to take another drink but soon came to realise that there was no more left. With a big sigh, Athena rubbed her head to ease the tension. The brunette was in conflict with herself. One half of her wanted to get out more than anything and live her life as long as she could, but the other half of her wanted to give up predominantly and let fait take its path.
"What the hell was that about?" A voice questioned from behind her. Athena rolled her eyes and turned to see Shane with his hands on his hips.
"The truth."
"Oh yeah? And what is that Athena?"
"That we're all not making it out of here, Shane." The woman aggressively pointed out, her eyes growing twice the size. She really was losing starting to lose herself. "We're stuck in here and in a matter of minutes we're all going to die."
"Don't want to at least try? Fight for the chance of us getting out of here."
"We're not, Shane. Get that in your head. Even if we do, there's nothing out there. You heard it yourself, every place like this is gone."
Shane scoffed "I can't believe this. The Athena I know wouldn't give up so easily. She would fight for what was right."
"Whats the point in fighting if there's no way out at all." Her tone was now soft and delicate as she spoke. "This is exactly what I meant when I said it wouldn't work out the way we wanted between us. Just let me say one last goodbye to you with the time we have left."
Shane thought it over for a couple of seconds, understanding where Athena was coming from. But Shane wanted to protect her and the rest of the group more than anything, there was no way he was going to let her die like this. He shook his head, his face suddenly contorting to a hostile expression before he grabbed the shot gun from the desk. "I'm not gonna let this happen to you."
Athena had no clue what he was doing as he stormed over to the rest of the group. She kept her eyes glued on him at all times until he eventually reached Jenner and shoved the shot gun in his face. "Open that door, or I'm going to blow your head off. Do you hear me!"
The man's words somehow switched on something inside Athena, realising that what he had said was right. She did need to fight. She'd been fighting her whole life, both mentally and physically and wasn't about to give up now. Athena was most definitely not ready to die today.
"Brother, brother, this is not the way you do this. We will never get out of here."
"Shane, listen to him. You were right, we do need to fight but we can't if he's dead." Athena reasoned with a panicked tone after she ran over to him.
With both Rick and Athena easing Shane to put the shot gun down, his rage still couldn't be contained. Shane raised his voice and screamed as he pushed the shot gun further into Jenner's face before quickly moving it away and shooting anything in front of him — like computers that sparked and fused.
Athena ducked down and covered her head, suddenly feeling fearful of the man. Rick wrestled with Shane, trying to pull the gun away until he finally knocked Shane off of his feet and onto the ground until he calmed down. "You done? Are you done?"
"Yeah, I guess we all are."
Everyone slowly came out of their hiding spot and glanced at each other as a solemn silence filled the now destroyed room. It was in that moment that they were all thinking the exact same thing. They weren't getting out of here.
"You're lying." Rick stated as Athena made her way over to Shane, checking he was okay. "You're lying about no hope. If that were true, you'd have bolted with the rest and taken the easy way out. You didn't. You chose the hard path. Why?"
"It doesn't matter."
"It does matter. It always matters. You stayed when others ran. Why?"
Jenner twisted in his chair, his face inches away from Rick. Athena could see Rick was getting to him and Jenner was finally starting to buckle. "Not because I wanted to. I made a promise to her — my wife."
"Test subject 19 was your wife?" Lori questioned inquisitively. Finally the truth had come out.
"She begged me to keep going as long as I could. How could i say no? She was dying. It should have been me on that table. I wouldn't have mattered to anybody. She was a loss to the world. Hell, she ran this place. She could of done this, not me."
Athena could see how much he loved and missed his wife, his eyes said it all. For the first time since they arrived she could see the humane side to him, she just hoped that side would decide to let them go free.
"Your wife didn't have a choice. You do. Thats-thats all we want. A choice, a chance."
"Let us keep trying as long as we can." Lori begged as she clung to Carl dearly.
Athena could see the words ticking over in Jenner's mind. Maybe they did have a chance, if only they could sway Jenner to open the doors. "I told you, top side is locked down. I cant open those." Jenner walked over to a little box and started to press buttons.
The sound of clattering diverted Athena's to the entrance, finding the door now opening. A huge sigh of relief escaped Athena's mouth, overjoyed at the chance of their freedom. Shane pulled Athena's arm with urgency, adamant on leaving and getting her out of here as soon as possible.
They had merely four minutes left to escape the CDC before they were all annihilated in the blast, killing them off immediately. Athena ran with Shane to the exit, not looking back until she reached the door.
"No, I'm staying." Jaqui said, causing the group to stop at the doorway.
"Thats insane!" T-Dog yelled as he tried to pull her along and being her with him.
Jaqui squirmed out of his hold "Its completely sane. For the first time in a long time. Im not ending up like Jim and Amy. It's no time to argue, and no point, not if you want to get out. Just get out."
Shane left Athena's side and headed for T-Dog, pulling him away reluctantly. Athena couldn't believe that Jaqui was staying behind, being with her from the start made her feel a deep sadness. They were losing another person. "Come on lets go." Shane ushered.
As Athena went to turn, she saw a blur of blonde in the corner of her eye. Andrea. Her heart dropped at the fact she wasn't following behind, instead she was stood calmly in the same position. Athena resisted Shane's pushes, pointing to Andrea "Andrea, she not moving. I have to get her. We can't leave her."
"Ill get her. You two go on, we'll be right behind you." Dale reassured, waving them to go.
With extreme hesitancy, Athena agreed. She trusted Dale, he knew how to help Andrea and was confident he could convince her. She just hoped they would make it out in time. "Athena we need to go now!"
The brunette turned swiftly and began to sprint down the hallway, up the staircase and out to the main doors. They were still sealed with little time left on the clock. The men took their weapons and struck the windows as hard as they could, but no matter what they tried it didn't make a dent. Including shooting at it. Athena paced back and fourth in front of the windows, searching for anything that would help them.
"Rick, I have something that might help." Carol announced reaching into her bag. "Your first morning at camp, when I washed your uniform, I found this in your pocket." She pulled out a grenade and presented it to the man.
Rick took it without even thinking as everyone ran for cover. He placed it next to the window and pulled the pin before running off as fast as he could. Athena covered her ears and put her face into Shane's chest as the blast boomed and shattered the glass. They were going to escape, they were going to live. But Andrea and Dale were still no where to be seen. She needed to know they were going to make it out.
"Athena, lets go."
"Andrea and Dale still aren't here yet."
"They'll be alright, I promise. But you need to come now or else none of us will have a chance." Shane implored with desperation in his eyes. Athena couldn't leave them behind, they both meant too much to her. But she knew that if she didn't leave now then she may not have the chance again.
"Okay." Athena nodded, the pair now sprinting across the open land and dodging any dead walkers on the ground. As they all jumped into their vehicles, Athena felt pure relief as she saw Dale and Andrea emerge from the building in one piece. But moments before they could reach them, the building was getting ready to explode. Andrea and Dale ducked down behind the sacks of sand as Shane threw himself over Athena as they ducked down.
The CDC was gone, so was Jaqui and so was Jenner. It was now only ashes on the ground with nothing left to recover. With that said, the group left the CDC behind and drove off aimlessly into the unknown.
Athena didn't know what lied ahead for the group, but once again her gut instinct told her that this was only the beginning of hell on earth.